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Carved Wooden Cross from Maramures
Ref: 1960
Amongst the distinctive folk art wood carvings from Maramures in the North of Transylvania are the hand held crosses and cross shaped bread stamps used in the Orthodox Church. Some of these have small holes which indicated they were also worn probably around the neck. This one is neither a bread stamp nor does it have a handle like others. It may have originally been cross shaped and lost two of its arms.
The lovely colour achieved by the wood (which may be beech or some fruitwood) suggests it was handled a lot even if worn as a pendant. The carvings of Christ, the Holy Spirit and the Almighty are primitive but skilled in execution. In the Russian or Coptic (Ethiopian) Church crosses like this were made in metal, here typically it is all wood carving.
Northern Transylvania 18th cent.
H: 15cm (5.9in)
W: 3.5cm (1.4in)
D: 1.3cm (0.5in)
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